The numerical transition to a more attractive, agile and sustainable economy relies on research on future digital technologies.

Thanks to its non-volatility, CMOS compatibility, scaling and 3D integration potential, emerging memory and logic technology based on ferroelectric hafnia represents a revolution in terms of possible applications. For example, with respect to Flash, resistive or phase change memories, ferroelectric memories are intrinsically low power by several orders of magnitude.

The device at the heart of the project is the FeFET-2. It consists of a ferroelectric capacitor (FeCAP) wired to the gate of a standard CMOS transistor. These devices have excellent endurance, retention and power rating together with the plasticity required for neuromorphic applications in artificial intelligence.

The thesis will use advanced characterization techniques, in particular photoemission spectroscopy and microscopy to establish the links between material properties and the electrical performance of the FeCAPs.

Operando experiments as a function of number of cycles, pulse amplitude and duration will allow exploring correlations between the kinetics of the material properties and the electrical response of the devices.

The thesis work will be carried out in close collaboration with NaMLab (Dresden) and the CEA LETI (Grenoble).